For those of you following our progress on the map, you have hopefully seen that we are happily back in the Beagle Channel. We had an excellent Drake crossing taking advantage of a great weather window. We left from Cuverville Island with brilliant blue skies, penguins porpoising, humpbacks, amazing scenery – it could not have been a better way to say good bye to Antarctica. All the passengers took their watch at the helm – rotations of 3 hours each. About a day out from Antarctica we had a large group of hourglass dolphins playing in the waves around us. Its nice to know one is not alone out in the big ocean. By day three we were passing Cape Horn and then entering the Beagle Channel. Ah – the color green! We arrived early in the morning in Harberton and the smell of land / earth – really the smell of green was a new smell after 3 weeks of ice and rocks. we arrived just at sunrise and the oranges and reds over Harberton never disappoint. We spent the day on a tour of the estancia and the bone / marine mammal museum and ended the day with a celebration of Sigi, our mountain guide’s birthday –
complete with champagne and dulce de leche cheesecake! We’ll wait one more day in Harberton while some strong winds push their way through the Beagle Channel, then set out early tomorrow for a sail to Ushuaia!
photos of orcas, penguins, and humpbacks promised when we get back to normal internet connection!